It has a name!

[D_Hall]

Those of you who are Firefly fans will recognize the name....

Vera.

But a gun can't just have a name like you or me. That seems to be against the rules. So I had to backtrack and make up some acronym so that my very favorite gun (all hail Jane!) could keep it's real name.

Variable Energy Research Accelerator. VERA.

[THUNDERLORD]

Cool name.
I'd have maybe named it the "BUBBDA"...
"Big Uber Barrelled Burst Disc Accelerator"
IDK, just popped in my mind.
VERA sounds much more sexy though. 8)

[jonnyboy]

Yay!

Any chance of getting a decal of one of those women on all the old b 40 bombers or whatever?

[Gippeto]

Good choice Dave. VERA sounds so much sexier than Big F'n Gun.

Edit: Beaten to that one I guess. Life continues.

Johnyboy,..perhaps you mean B 17 ?

http://www.maxair2air.com/AIR/Profiles/ ... urney.html

I've been in this one, beautiful piece of history. 8)

[Ragnarok]

Well, that writes off one of the possible names for HEAL 2. Well, at least the decision is finally made for me then...

But it's a fair cop. All hail the Hero of Canton.

[jonnyboy]

Good choice Dave. VERA sounds so much sexier than Big F'n Gun.

Edit: Beaten to that one I guess. Life continues.

Johnyboy,..perhaps you mean B 17 ?

http://www.maxair2air.com/AIR/Profiles/ ... urney.html

I've been in this one, beautiful piece of history. 8)

Yeah that's it, guess I don't know my planes very well.

[inonickname]

Awesome. I think big $#%^ing uber mega headesk combo gun describes it better but whatever.

Back in the thread about vacuum cannons, will the VERA use a vacuum assist to remove the weight of the air in the barrel?

[chenslee]

Mine has a name too. Tactical Inter-balistic Tennisball System.

T.I.T.S.

[inonickname]

Mine has a name too. Tactical Inter-balistic Tennisball System.

T.I.T.S.

Have you seen his though? If it had a tennis ball barrel it could probably shoot a tennis ball through a house and out the other side..

[D_Hall]

Sorry to have disappeared. Spent the last couple weeks in Hawaii (ugh... no desire to ever go back. after going, I do not understand why that place has a tourism industry). I'm back now (obviously).

Back in the thread about vacuum cannons, will the VERA use a vacuum assist to remove the weight of the air in the barrel?

No. I've not looked at what the theoretical improvements would be, but I suspect they're not that significant. More importantly, however, is the fact that a vacuum capable disc 20" in diameter that will not adversely affect the projectile is a very tall order. For small bores, it's a trivial problem (a couple layers of tape do the job), but for this one? I don't see that being easy to do.

As for the requests for pics: The closest thing I'll post to a pic... Posted because it's already been out there in the public domain for some time. This is NOT what the final design ended up looking like, but from 100 meters you'd probably never notice the differences (they're subtle). Eventually (hopefully this fall), there will be a full press release. At that time not only will photos be released, but also video and full specs.

Note: For the purposes of scale... Yes, that's a semi-trailer the gun is mounted to.

[spudtyrrant]

lol you might be a redneck if....
no but seriously that thing is huge can't wait to see it when its done....duhh how far do you think that there thing will shoot with solid ammo..lol i'm guessing pretty far

[D_Hall]

how far do you think that there thing will shoot with solid ammo..

100 meters (give or take) will likely be the furthest the gun ever shoots.

It's a research tool, not an artillery piece.

[inonickname]

Hmm..

How are the bends done? Weld bends, cast or curved from a straight section?

By the way any ideas on what this thing will fire?

[D_Hall]

Bends are commercially manufactured castings. Put it this way: I had a six figure budget.

And yes, there has been much talk of what this thing will fire. It's a research tool, after all.

[spudtyrrant]

what exactly are you researching for(or is that classified)